Unsheltered CD: A Novel (CD-Audio)

Staff Reviews

In 2016, 50-year-old Willa Knox never thought she would be barely scraping by. She had been a successful journalist and her husband a tenured college professor. Now, they have both lost their jobs and have been forced to relocate to an inherited house in Vineland, NJ where they work at part time jobs while caring for an ailing father-in-law, their activist daughter and the baby of their son, whose wife has died. With no money to repair their house, which is literally falling down around them, Willa decides to research the house’s history in hopes of obtaining a grant from the local historical society. In the 1870s, Vineland was a real-life Utopian community founded by developer, Charles Landis. A young teacher, Thatcher Greenwood, lived in her house along with numerous relatives. At this point, the novel splits into two parallel narratives with riveting coincidences and insightful commentary on human nature and the dangers inherent in not accepting change in times of upheaval.

In Vineland in the 1870s, Thatcher Greenwood, put off by the social climbing ways of his wife and the Utopian dogma of John Landis, befriends his next-door neighbor, Mary Treat. Mary (a real person) is a biologist and frequent correspondent with Charles Darwin. When Thatcher attempts to teach Darwinism in his classroom, he is threatened with the termination of his contract. Two conflicting newspapers take sides in the debate with disastrous results when the anti-Darwin Charles Landis tries to silence the “fake news”.

As in her previous novels, Kingsolver weaves environmental, societal and political themes in with astute observations of the daily existences of her fully realized characters who love, hate and worry with both anguish and satirical humor. Rich in historical detail with vivid dialogue and wonderful storytelling, Unsheltered is ultimately an optimistic look at how individuals and families can survive in the face of turmoil and uncertainty.

— Robin Harvey

November 2018 Indie Next List

“A brilliant novel set in two different centuries, eras when lies trumped truth and superstition overruled science. Kingsolver illustrates human resiliency with insight, humor, and compassion in this deeply satisfying novel. While showing the cost of leadership built on false promises and lies, it also illustrates the strength of the human spirit with characters who will not be broken by their times. Kingsolver’scharacters, including historical figures Mary Treat and Charles Landis, shine as they make their way through the maze of survival set before them. Great reading.”
— Deon Stonehouse, Sunriver Books & Music, Sunriver, OR

Description

The New York Times bestselling author of Flight Behavior, The Lacuna, and The Poisonwood Bible and recipient of numerous literary awards—including the National Humanities Medal, the Dayton Literary Peace Prize, and the Orange Prize—returns with a timely novel that interweaves past and present to explore the human capacity for resiliency and compassion in times of great upheaval.

Willa Knox has always prided herself on being the embodiment of responsibility for her family. Which is why it’s so unnerving that she’s arrived at middle age with nothing to show for her hard work and dedication but a stack of unpaid bills and an inherited brick home in Vineland, New Jersey, that is literally falling apart. The magazine where she worked has folded, and the college where her husband had tenure has closed. The dilapidated house is also home to her ailing and cantankerous Greek father-in-law and her two grown children: her stubborn, free-spirited daughter, Tig, and her dutiful debt-ridden, ivy educated son, Zeke, who has arrived with his unplanned baby in the wake of a life-shattering development.

In an act of desperation, Willa begins to investigate the history of her home, hoping that the local historical preservation society might take an interest and provide funding for its direly needed repairs. Through her research into Vineland’s past and its creation as a Utopian community, she discovers a kindred spirit from the 1880s, Thatcher Greenwood.

A science teacher with a lifelong passion for honest investigation, Thatcher finds himself under siege in his community for telling the truth: his employer forbids him to speak of the exciting new theory recently published by Charles Darwin. Thatcher’s friendships with a brilliant woman scientist and a renegade newspaper editor draw him into a vendetta with the town’s most powerful men. At home, his new wife and status-conscious mother-in-law bristle at the risk of scandal, and dismiss his financial worries and the news that their elegant house is structurally unsound.

Brilliantly executed and compulsively listenable, Unsheltered is the story of two families, in two centuries, who live at the corner of Sixth and Plum, as they navigate the challenges of surviving a world in the throes of major cultural shifts. In this mesmerizing story told in alternating chapters, Willa and Thatcher come to realize that though the future is uncertain, even unnerving, shelter can be found in the bonds of kindred—whether family or friends—and in the strength of the human spirit.

About the Author

Barbara Kingsolver is the author of nine bestselling works of fiction, including the novels, Flight Behavior, The Lacuna, The Poisonwood Bible, Animal Dreams, and The Bean Trees, as well as books of poetry, essays, and creative nonfiction. Her work of narrative nonfiction is the enormously influential bestseller Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life. Kingsolver’s work has been translated into more than twenty languages and has earned literary awards and a devoted readership at home and abroad. She was awarded the National Humanities Medal, our country’s highest honor for service through the arts, as well as the prestigious Dayton Literary Peace Prize for her body of work. She lives with her family on a farm in southern Appalachia.

Barbara Kingsolver is the author of nine bestselling works of fiction, including the novels, Flight Behavior, The Lacuna, The Poisonwood Bible, Animal Dreams, and The Bean Trees, as well as books of poetry, essays, and creative nonfiction. Her work of narrative nonfiction is the enormously influential bestseller Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life. Kingsolver’s work has been translated into more than twenty languages and has earned literary awards and a devoted readership at home and abroad. She was awarded the National Humanities Medal, our country’s highest honor for service through the arts, as well as the prestigious Dayton Literary Peace Prize for her body of work. She lives with her family on a farm in southern Appalachia.